Gut Check Time Round One: B’s Battle Leafs Without Savard & Chara

The Bruins will have to find a way to win in Toronto tonight without Marc Savard (left) and Zdeno Chara (right).

Just like that, the Bruins journey to the playoffs has become that much harder. Despite quietly winning six of their last eight games, you’d think the Boston Bruins were already eliminated from playoff contention with the events that have transpired over the past 72 hours. After losing Marc Savard, likely for the season, in their 2-1 loss to the Penguins on Sunday thanks to a Matt Cooke cheapshot, the Bruins will battle the last-place Leafs in Toronto without captain Zdeno Chara.

In their fifth game since the Olympic break ended, the Bruins will look to overcome their third injury woe, Tuukka Rask being the first to go down on February 2nd. While Rask will be back on the bench tonight for the B’s, the biggest question will be just how the B’s will escape Toronto with a win without Savard and Chara?

Making his NHL debut in the absence of Big Z will be 22-year old Jeff Penner. An undrafted defensemen from Manitoba, Penner has 27 points in 55 games this season for Providence, sitting just one point away from matching last season’s total with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Rhode Island in 25 less games. Standing at 5’10″, Penner will bring an offensive jolt to the B’s blue-line but doesn’t provide the big body that’s lost with the injury to Chara.

Replacing Savard in the line-up, probably for the rest of the season, is fellow undersized center Vladimir Sobotka. Third on the B’s in the hit department with 109 in 45 games this season, Sobotka won’t light up the scoreboard like Savard, having just seven points this season, but will provide an NHL-capable body in the bottom six of the Boston line-up.

While the Bruins will be looking to overcome the injury bug, the Leafs will be getting some relief to their trade-depleted line-up with the addition of Mikhali Grabovski back after a two-month plus absence with a broken wrist. The 25-year old Grabovski has 25 points in 42 games this season and provides another youthful weapon up front for Toronto along with Phil Kessel.

Much like 2007-08, the (probable) season-ending injury to Marc Savard puts David Krejci in the perfect position to step up in what has been a disappointing junior campaign for the 23-year old Czech. It was just two years ago when a Steve Begin cross-check sidelined Savard provided Krejci with a chance seize the opportunity with more ice-time and responded with nine points in seven games, filling in for Savard more than adequately. In a similar spot both in the standings and in terms of roster skill-set, are Claude Julien’s Bruins poised to bring a flashback back to their play and rise above the (lowered) expectations and make a strong playoff push?

YouTube Video of the Game

In last Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Leafs at the Garden, Milan Lucic engaged in his first fight since February 9th when he dropped the mitts with Colton Orr. Despite getting a few good shots in, the decision clearly went to Orr, who broke Lucic’s nose in the scrap. With Lucic wearing a visor thanks to Orr, the idea of a rematch is out of the question but it’ll be interesting to see if Shawn Thornton takes a run at Orr early in tonight’s contest in an attempt to get some energy going for the Bruins.

Players To Watch & Stats To Note

* Michael Ryder has zero points and is a -1 in his last four games.

* Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is 2-1-0 this month with a 1.96 goals against average and .939SV%.

* This is the first time Zdeno Chara has missed a game due to injury since March of 2008 when he missed five games due to a shoulder injury.

* Former Bruins winger Phil Kessel has zero points on 12 shots and is a -3 in four career games against the B’s.

* Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson had a 25-save shutout in his only start against Boston this year.

* In just four career games against the Bruins, new Leaf Dion Phaneuf has two goals and three points against Boston.

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